Written by There is a question, I think, that most of us ask ourselves at some stage in life and how we answer it shapes our lives. It is: “Is Jesus Christ who He says He is?” Many people respond with either Yes, he is, or No, he is not. However, for some of us there is a third answer: it’s ‘I’m not sure …’ and those of us in this position go through life with a foot in each of the camps of belief and unbelief. It’s a kind of Third Way.
Today’s Gospel text reveals that even the great John the Baptist also was not so sure about Jesus. We read that after he had been imprisoned, John sent some of his followers to question Jesus because he, Jesus, was not meeting his expectation of how the Messiah should act.
You may recall from last Sunday’s Gospel how John expected a somewhat terrifying Messiah coming from God who would judge, condemn and punish. By contrast, Jesus was emphasizing the compassionate, merciful and healing nature of God. Jesus did not fit the unsparing role the Baptist envisaged.
In reply to John’s followers, Jesus explained that he was attuned to a different expectation in the Bible of the role of the Messiah in the Bible. He was fulfilling the role of the Messiah promised by the Prophet Isaiah (as outlined in the First Reading). He had come not to condemn but to save, to bring forgiveness and healing to broken people and, generally, people whose lives were in a bit of a mess. Forgiveness, not condemnation, he taught, were the hallmarks of God’s nature (also celebrated in today’s Responsorial Psalm). So to the disappointment and even scandal of some, Jesus was to be found befriending outcasts and supporting sick, broken, abused and neglected people. He so identified with theses ‘little people’ that he said that every time we help someone who is hungry, sick, in prison, a victim of injustice or down on their luck, we actually are helping him.
The Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” – which we sing at the end of Mass – tells a story about a king going out on the 26th December (St Stephen’s Day) in harsh winter weather and coming upon a poor peasant in search of bits of wood to light a fire in his freezing home. With his servant in tow, the king treks through the snow with food and wine for the peasant. When the servant is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, the king tells him to continue by following in his, the king’s, footprints, step for step, through the deep snow. [The legend is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935). (source: Wikipedia)]
Like the poor peasant walking in the king’s footsteps, Jesus asks that we follow in his, following the path he has tread before us of, step by step, supporting where we can the sick, the lonely, the hungry, people in prison, victims of injustice or anyone in difficulty or in need. It is amongst such people today, surely, where Jesus would mostly be found?
We now have entered the two darkest weeks of the year. However, although we are in the grip of winter weather and shortening hours of daylight, we can cheer ourselves a bit with lights and decorations, festive music, parties as well as stock up with seasonal food and drink for celebrations with family and friends. At the same time, we recognise how fortunate we are to have homes with such comforts and to be spared from the hunger, misfortune and deprivation suffered by so many others, not least the victims of this harsh weather.
Speaking of his own good fortune, Pope Francis says this:
As I meet, or lend an ear to those who are sick, to the migrants who face terrible hardships in search of a brighter future, to prison inmates who carry a hell of pain inside their hearts, and to those, many of them young, who cannot find a job, I often find myself wondering: “Why them and not me?” I, myself, was born in a family of migrants; my father, my grandparents, like many other Italians, left for Argentina and met the fate of those who are left with nothing. I could have very well ended up among today’s “discarded” people. And that’s why I always ask myself, deep in my heart: “Why them and not me?” (Pope Francis, TED Talk, April 2017)
Indeed, we might all ask: ‘why them and not me?’ So, let us be thankful for our own good fortune and, perhaps, try afresh these weeks to think of others beyond our immediate kith and kin; and, where we can, to be a Good King Wenceslaus for others, as Christ was.
Michael Campion
Holy Name, Jesmond
11 December 2022
Sunday Mass: Saturday 4pm, Sunday 10am 